


kiss these bloody knuckles

by MostlyFandomTrash



Series: the mortem family case files [9]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Original Work
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, Other, eris and zag were going to get thier shit together at some point but ya know, meetings, reason number 73673 i shouldnt be allowed to write angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 15:05:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17469863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MostlyFandomTrash/pseuds/MostlyFandomTrash
Summary: eris mortem doesn't do feelings, not until she meets zagreus./also titled: the five times eris meets zagreus and the one time she wishes she didn't.





	kiss these bloody knuckles

**kiss these bloody knuckles (or, the five times eris met zagreus and the one time she wished that she didn't)**

/

(one)

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Eris Mortem’s gaze snaps upwards from the screen of her cracked phone to the face of a pale boy that she only slightly recognizes. Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she thinks his name starts with a ‘ _ Z _ .’ “Of course I’m okay.” (It’s a lie, she knows. She hasn’t been okay since the day her brother died and her sister ran away and her father started buying whole cases of beer instead of just six packs.) “Get away from me, you idiot.”

 

He doesn’t move like she expected him to, the boy merely stays where he is and continues to stare down at her. For a few moments, she lets it happen while hoping he’ll take the very obvious hint and leave her alone. Instead, he takes a seat next to her on the floor and stares at the opposite wall of lockers. “I’m Zagreus.”

 

“And, I don’t care.” She responds instantly, almost instinctively, and shifts slightly so she is no longer facing towards him. Her eyes dip back down towards her phone, where (seemingly) unread messages from her younger brothers are flashing across her screen (“ _ eris when r u coming home? _ ” and “ _ dad is getting mad pls hurry up _ ” and “ _ hes yelling eris pls come home _ ” and “ _ eos is crying where r u _ ”) and she wants to put it down but she can’t, not when she knows that she is the reason her father is yelling at them and her baby sister is probably crying loud enough to let him know where they’re hiding. It’s her fault and she knows it, especially when Charon’s texts stop coming in. Eris lifts her head to look at him. “Do you need something from me?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“Then, why are you sitting with me?”

 

Zagreus gives her a small shrug. “You looked lonely.”

 

“I looked. . ?” Suddenly, a scoff escapes her lips and she’s on her feet before she knows what she’s doing. “Fuck off and leave me alone. Okay?”

 

She walks away from him without waiting for a reply.

 

(The first time Eris meets Zagreus, she’s sitting on the floor of West St. Deity High School’s English Hall and staring hard at her phone. The first Eris meets Zagreus, she tells him to leave her alone and he does the exact opposite.)

  
  


/

(two)

 

Hypnos has always been the most outgoing of all her siblings, but the mere fact that her youngest brother has somehow roped all three of his remaining older siblings into coming to one of his friend's parties is almost hysterical to think about. If it weren't happening right in front of her eyes, she might not believe it was real.

 

And, she almost thinks she's really going to have a good time until they walk up to the porch and Hypnos presses the doorbell about six times and Zagreus Vernal opens the door with a playful glare that's almost covered up by the longish dark bangs that fall over his forehead. “Dammit, Hyp. Are you trying to  _ ruin _ what is lef-” He pauses, and takes in the other three Mortems behind his friend. “I see you've managed to bring along your siblings.”

 

Eris watches as Thanatos, who seems slightly used to this type of behaviour from the pale boy (how they even know each other, she's not sure, since Zagreus is two grades higher than the twins), lightly shoves him out of the way and enters the house. He speaks as he walks past, and then he disappears to find someone he knows who isn't related to him. “It's freezing of here, Vernal. Either let us in or close the door.”

 

In response, Zagreus moves with a dramatic sweep of his arm and a slight grin. “Please, come in before you all turn into Mortem people-cicles that I will undoubtedly have to clean up myself when you melt in the morning sun.”

 

Charon rolls his eyes and goes in, and when Hypnos follows him soon after, Eris is left alone on the porch with a frown on her face and her eyebrows raised. The male merely raises his own eyebrows and motions for her to come inside. “Come on if you don't want to freeze to death, Eris.”

 

“How do you know my name? We've spoken once.”

 

“I've been going to school with you since the second grade, darling. I'd be stupid not to know your name by now.” For a moment or so, she doesn't say a thing, silently realizing that she has known him slightly since the second grade and only just learned his name a few months ago.

 

“Yeah, right. Can I come inside now?”

 

Zagreus just smiles and walks away from the door, leaving it wide open. Eris walks through the threshold and closes it gently behind her, leaning against the wood as she watches the pale boy turn the corner and leave her alone in the entryway.

 

(The second time Eris meets Zagreus, she doesn't necessarily tell him to leave her alone. The second time Eris meets Zagreus, her youngest brother drags her out into the freezing cold to a party at his house and he leaves her alone by the front door.)

  
  


/

(three)

 

The essay prompt on her desk (the one that is due in three days, and if she doesn't start now she most likely won't finish by then) does nothing to persuade her from taking her eyes off the pale, dark haired boy, whom she had never really noticed until a few months ago, was sitting three rows in front of her.

 

It was odd, she wasn't able to take her eyes off of the back of his head, watching him work away on the grade she was most definitely going to fail (it wasn't her best subject, anyways, so she wasn't too concerned with it). Not even when he turns around and catches her gaze, and she has to pretend to go back to her work as he gives her a small smile and a light wave, does the trick to knock her out of her seeming daze.

 

After the bell rings, and Eris comes to the realization that she barely got through her introduction within the hour period as she puts her things in her bag, Zagreus walks over to her desk and rests his hands on the edge. “You know,” he says casually, and she fights the urge to look up at him, “if you want to move seats, just ask Chiron.”

 

“You know,” she says in the same tone, finally taking a breath and lifting her gaze, “it's rude to call a teacher by their first name.” Like the last time, she gets up and leaves the classroom before he can do much of anything to respond.

 

(The third time Eris meets Zagreus, she is once again sitting in the English Hall of West St. Deity High School, but this time she is focused on something other than her phone. The third time Eris meets Zagreus, she is trying not to let him know she's staring.)

  
  


/

(four)

 

It's lunch time, and Eris takes her seat at a table near the window, waiting (surprisingly) only a few moments before someone drops onto the bench next to her. She turns, fully expecting it to be one of her brothers, and opens her mouth to speak but almost freezes when she registers Zagreus in front of her. “What are you doing?”

 

“Sitting.” He says simply, almost sounding sarcastic. “You know, it's this thing that you do when you get too tired of standing?”

 

She huffs and shoves him, light enough to not leave a bruise, but hard enough that it almost sends him to the ground. “That's not what I meant, and you know it.”

 

The boy just laughs and leans on his elbow as he looks at her. “Your brothers take forever to get here. And, by the time they do, your food is bound to be cold, but you never start eating without them. I thought I could keep you company while you wait.”

 

“You don't have to do that. I'm fine by myself, I always am.”

 

“You're really good at deflecting concerns for your well-being, you know that, right?”

 

For a moment, she smiles. “Yeah,” Eris says quietly, “yeah, I know.”

 

(The fourth time Eris meets Zagreus, she thinks that maybe, just maybe, he isn't so bad. The fourth time Eris meets Zagreus, she decides that she likes him.)

  
  


/

(five)

 

“Really, Eris, we have to stop meeting like this.” When she glances up from her textbook, Zagreus is standing above her, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black jean jacket while he smiles down at her. “What? Is this seventh time now?”

 

“Shut up, stupid.” She responds with almost no malice in her tone at all, and when she moves over slightly, he does take the hint this time and slides down the wall next to her.

 

“What are you reading?”

 

“Dr. Chiron gave me a History book so I could study for my final.” Her eyes flit upwards towards him, and he smiles softly at her. “You know, since it's the one test I'm going to pass.”

 

The pale boy rolls his eyes and bumps their shoulders to together, sending a small jolt through Eris’ spine. “That's not true, you're plenty smart.”

 

“Not in the way that matters to them. I'm not book smart, Zag, I'm street smart. I don't understand all those questions they ask on the tests.”

 

“Do you want some help?” The male gives a short pause. “With studying?”

 

The dark haired female really hopes he isn't paying too close attention to her (he is, she knows he is), because she's pretty sure the tips of her ears have started to turn red. “Yeah, okay. I'd like that.”

 

(The fifth time Eris meets Zagreus, she is ninety-two percent sure that she  _ might _ be in love with him. The fifth time Eris meets Zagreus, she is one hundred and five percent sure that she  _ can't _ be in love with him.)

  
  


/

(+ one)

 

Almost a full four years after he graduates, almost five years after she drops out of school in the eleventh grade, they run into each other on the sidewalks of Los Angeles, California and Zagreus almost doesn't see her at all.

 

She's watching him, from a few feet away on one of the benches pushed up under the canopy of the bakery. He's talking ambiently to a shorter man with a small child's arms linked around his neck, hanging from his back, and another one walking next to the shorter man. “Hey, Zagreus? Is that you?” (She asks like she doesn't know, like she wouldn't recognize him out of a crowd in an instant.)

 

She watches his still form for a moment before he turns around, and when he spots her, his eyes go wide and, after a moment with an expression of shock, he smiles at her. “Eris, hey.”

 

Returning the smile (albeit, forcefully), the girl stands up and makes her way over, dodging the relentless bundles of people walking the other direction effortlessly. “It's been a while. How are you?”

 

“I'm fine. . . great, actually.” He turns his attention to the child hanging off his back. “This is Sania, and that's Calix.” He gestures at the one hiding behind the other man's legs.

 

“They're cute, are they yours?”

 

“Ours, actually.” The other man speaks up suddenly, and walks over to them after picking up Calix. “I'm Wren, Zag's husband.”

 

“You got married?!” Her voice is louder than she intended it to be, and a few of the patrons glare at her. She takes a breath. “Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?”

 

“We didn't invite many people, I didn't even invite my sisters.” Zagreus says, and he loops an arm around Wren's and smiles at her. “Anyways, we've got a meeting to get to at four, so I'll see you again sometime?”

 

“Yeah, Zag. I'll see you.”

 

(The last and final time Eris meets Zagreus, it's too late. He's already moved on and there's nothing, absolutely nothing, that she can do about it. The last and final time Eris Mortem meets Zagreus Vernal, he's the one that walks away.)

  
  


/

 

**fin.**


End file.
